Where Rising Powers Meet: China and Russia At Their North Asian Border

在过去的十年里，世界的注意力集中在俄罗斯和中国作为世界四大新兴经济体（金砖四国）中的两个，但很少关注它们的界面。此外，在已经完成的研究中，分析很少超出经济学、历史学和政治学的学科。它们主要集中于国家政策和宏观一级的变化，很少注意这两个多民族社会内部和之间正在发生的无数社会变革。然而，自1991年苏联社会主义解体以来，特别是在过去十年中，这条接触线已经成为两国之间迅速转变和不断扩大的对比的场所。沿着边境如雨后春笋般涌现的满洲里/扎贝加尔斯克、黑河/布拉戈维申斯克、绥芬河/乌苏里斯克等“双城”，呈现出截然不同的特征。与此同时，战略资源的开采（特别是采矿）正在吸引全球经济利益，颠覆传统职业，并吸引新的人口。目的和目标拟议的项目，基于社会人类学，将寻求解决这些发展。一个对该地区及其语言有深入了解的国际小组将进行一系列个案研究。该项目将比较研究两国政治环境中的社会和经济做法。我们的目标是突出和确定关键因素，包括对创业和市场的文化态度，推动他们的演变和未来的轨迹。我们认为，边界和周边地区可以揭示出从大都会看不到的后帝国时代大国内部的动态;基层研究揭示了全球现代性的新兴形式，这些形式是症状性的，可能预示着未来的总体趋势。具体而言，对转型中的“双城”的案例研究将调查高度不同的公民身份形式以及经济供给和福利的对比这两个问题都出现在任何一方-沿着的是移民流动和新的非国家混合空间，这些空间贯穿国家治理。我们的项目还将调查邻国蒙古的干预措施，俄罗斯和中国与其他国家一起作为全球行动者在那里开展活动。我们将努力了解它们在发展中国家的不同运作模式及其潜在的政治、社会和环境后果。最后，研究的区域重点还将突出这一边境地区的民族动态，该地区的土著群体传统上是游牧民族和佛教徒。该项目将研究在多大程度上，少数民族与俄罗斯人和中国人在谈判边境法规时有所不同，以及在什么情况下，亲属关系、民族和宗教关系能够（或不能够）胜过国家忠诚。潜在利益该项目将是此类项目中的第一个，其主要贡献将是提供有关一个战略地区的新类型信息，该地区迄今为止在很大程度上一直处于公众视线之外。关于公民权利、历史、种族、福祉、财产、就业、可持续性以及当地和外国商品消费的态度和做法的研究将揭示新兴大国不同人口的基本价值观，因此将对寻求更好地了解这两个国家的公众感兴趣。它也将直接受益于研究人员从一系列学科（如人类学，社会学，政治学，经济学，国际关系，种族和发展研究），并将兴趣与该地区的重点越来越多的利益相关者，特别是在英国和国外的外交政策制定者，开发银行，媒体和信息机构和非政府组织。

ContextOver the last decade world attention has focused on Russia and China as two of the world's four rising economies (BRICs), but there has been little focus on their interface. Furthermore, in the studies that have been done analyses have rarely extended beyond the disciplines of economics, history and political science. They have largely focused on state policies and changes at macro-level and have paid little attention to the myriad social transformations now taking place within and between these two multi-ethnic societies. Yet, since the demise of Soviet socialism in 1991 and especially in the last decade, the line of contact has become a site of rapid transformations and ever widening contrasts between the two countries. The 'twin-cities', notably Manzhouli/Zabaikalsk, Heihe/Blagoveshchensk and Suifenhe/Ussuriisk, that have mushroomed along the border are assuming utterly different characters. Meanwhile, the extraction of strategic resources (mining in particular) is attracting global economic interests, overturning traditional occupations, and drawing in new populations.Aims and ObjectivesThe proposed project, based in social anthropology, will seek to address these developments. A series of case studies will be carried out by an international team with an in-depth knowledge of the region and its languages. The project will study comparatively social and economic practices in their political environments in the two countries. We aim to highlight and identify the key factors, including cultural attitudes to entrepreneurship and the market, that drive their evolution and future trajectories. We suggest that borders and peripheries can shed light on the internal dynamics within great post-imperial states that are not visible from the metropolis; ground level studies reveal emergent forms of global modernity that are symptomatic and may be predictive of future general trends.Specifically, case studies of the transforming 'twin cities' will investigate the highly divergent forms of citizenship and the contrasts in economic affordances and wellbeing emerging on either side - along with the migration flows and new non-state hybrid spaces that cross-cut state governance. Our project will also investigate interventions in neighbouring Mongolia, where Russia and China operate as global actors alongside others. We will seek to understand their different modes of operation in a developing country and their potential political, social and environmental consequences. Finally, the regional focus of the study will also highlight the ethnic dynamics of this border region inhabited by indigenous groups that were traditionally nomadic and Buddhist. The project will examine to what extent minority people negotiate border regulations differently from Russians and Chinese, and in what circumstances kinship, ethnic and religious ties do (or do not) trump national loyalties.Potential BenefitsThis project will be the first of its kind and its primary contribution will be to provide new kinds of information about a strategic region, which until now has remained largely out of the public eye. The research on attitudes and practices regarding citizenship rights, history, ethnicity, well-being, property, employment, sustainability, and consumption of local and foreign goods will shed light on the fundamental values of the diverse populations of the Rising Powers - and therefore will be of interest to the general public seeking to gain a better understanding of these two countries. It will also be of direct benefit to researchers from a range of disciplines (e.g. anthropology, sociology, politics, economics, international relations, ethnic and development studies) and will interest the growing number of stakeholders with a focus on the region, in particular foreign policy makers in the UK and abroad, development banks, media and information agencies and NGOs.